I have refrigerated and use it wisely I consider....eg I have heated my loungeroom (which can be shut off from bedroom s and bathroom tonight for approx. half an hour (live in a 2 bedroom villa) and then turned it off, I have had dinner since and I think this warms you up anyway...

I live in the tropics and also have a condition where my body cannot adequately regulate its own temperature in the heat.So I do need and use my air conditioner.The 'box' unit in my lounge is brand new after the old one finally died at 14 years of age;and it actually does the lounge/kitchen/ hall and up into my bedroom!! I use it during the day rather than at night as I hate sleeping in air conditioning(I do have a unit in the bedroom!).Because I have very good insulation I find that the house is delightfully cool by early evening, so I can turn the a.c. off at night unless it is extremely hot !!

I live in Cairns and we have split system air cons in all the bedrooms, the study and the living area. I haven't started using them yet, but I will use them, as needed, during summer. It's so expensive to run them, but important to make sure everyone is comfortable...well...to make sure I am comfortable! I HATE the heat!

We have evaporative cooling throughout the house and I love it. When the weather is very humid it is not so cooling but I hate to have the windows closed or the doors and I feel that the air that circulates is fresher than with refrigerated cooling (having to keep the doors and windows closed. I have had both types of cooling but the evaporative is much much cheaper to run.

We have ducted cooling and heating to ensure that EVERY room is cooled or heated to a comfortable temperature. We put the air conditioning in when our children were little, so as to ensure they were kept comfortable in the back bedrooms. We have it on whenever it is required. We have it so it would be silly not to use it. I'm not sure how much it costs to run but our comfort is the most important thing.

None of the above - too expensive. I put a giant towel on the bed, wrap pillow in another towel, & lie still (with a good book) and a small fan at the side of the bed.
No other choice as a single with very limited funds. At least I cannot eat chocolate in bed in Summer!

+ .... the Owners Corporation will NEVER, EVER agree to the installation of A/Cs showing on the external walls!
I did have Mirror film put on some North facing windows but windows that broke in storms have never had that film re-applied as the OC is too lazy to chase the film through our insurance.
Last year, a can of Tomatoes exploded in the cupboard at 41C in the kitchen & bathroom, 39C in bedroom and 40.3C in lounge. The horrendous illness from such dreadful heat makes one not want to keep living

I have a split system but feel the heater part isn't working so well now as last winter I was shivering most evenings as the system was blowing cold air.
I did have someone come out and look but because according to him 'it works', (warm air on his face, in October or so, so the worst of winter cold had gone by then) nothing more will be done.
I have large floor-ceiling windows in lounge/bedrooms which let the heat in during summer, I've just overheated in another heatwave this week, and they let the heat out in winter.